The MDC says Zimbabwe's international image has been tarnished by Grace Mugabe's alleged assault, and Zambian opposition leader Hakainde Hichilema has been released from prison and treason charges against him have been dropped.

Algiers - Algerian troops have surrounded Islamist gunmen
who seized 41 hostages in a raid on a gas field as Britain's foreign minister on
Thursday condemned the "cold-blooded murder" of a Briton in the
attack.

The Islamists told Mauritanian media they were holding 41
Westerners including French, British and Japanese citizens, as well as seven
Americans in reprisal, they said, for the French assault against Islamists in
neighbouring Mali and Algeria's co-operation.

One Briton and an Algerian were killed in the attack, Algeria's
interior minister Dahou Ould Kablia said. Six people were wounded: another
Briton, a Norwegian and a Scot, as well as an Algerian security agent and two
policemen.

'Terrorists'

Condemning the attack, British foreign secretary William
Hague expressed scepticism about claims the raid was retaliation for France's
offensive in Mali.

"That is a convenient excuse, but usually operations
like this take longer to plan.

"Whatever excuse is being used by terrorists and
murderers, there is no excuse. This is the cold-blooded murder of people going
about their business," he said during a visit to Australia.

While Washington and Tokyo said their nationals were among
the hostage, French President Francois Hollande said it was not certain that
French citizens were being held.

French news channel France 24 reported that Malaysian and
Filipino nationals were also among the hostages.

Algerian interior minister Dahou Ould Kablia, speaking on
national television, insisted Algiers would not negotiate with the
"terrorists", who he said were surrounded by the army and security
services.

The group appeared to want to leave the country with the
hostages, which Algiers had rejected, he said. They were "around 20 men
from the region", he added, denying that they had come from either Mali or
Libya.

The In Amenas gas field near the Libyan border is jointly
operated by British oil giant BP, Norway's Statoil and state-run Algerian
energy firm Sonatrach.

A worker at the scene told AFP by phone that the armed group
was demanding freedom for 100 Islamists held in Algeria in exchange for the
Western hostages.

"The assailants have demanded that these Islamists be
taken to northern Mali," he said.

Retaliation for French intervention in Mali

A group calling itself "Signatories for Blood"
claimed responsibility in a post to the Mauritanian website Alakhbar saying it
was in retaliation for the French intervention in Mali and Algeria's co-operation.

"Algeria was chosen for this operation to teach
(President Abdelaziz) Bouteflika that we will never accept the humiliation of
the Algerian people's honour... by opening Algerian airspace to French
planes," it said.

The group called for an end to the French offensive.

The attack took place at dawn, when armed Islamists targeted
a bus carrying oil workers to the In Amenas airport, the interior ministry
said. Fought off by security escorts, they took hostages at the gas field's
residential compound.

BP confirmed that the gas complex had been attacked at
around 05:00 GMT.

A Statoil official said 12 employees, including nine
Norwegians, had been "implicated" in the hostage-taking, without
elaborating. The company said it had just under 20 staff members at the
facility.

A French catering company said 150 of its Algerian employees
were being held at the complex.

"The information I have is that a group of around 60
terrorists from neighbouring countries attacked the base overnight," said
CIS Catering's executive director Regis Arnoux.

"They took all the expatriates hostage, regardless of
nationality, and tied them up. The Algerian staff are being held inside the
site," he told French newspaper the Journal du Dimanche.

'Many lives at stake'

The attackers were well armed and well equipped, he said,
adding: "We fear the worst, there are many lives at stake."

Algerian news agency APS said some Algerian hostages were
later freed, but did not say how many.

Hague said Britain was working closely with Algeria over the
crisis.

Japanese engineering firm JGC said five Japanese workers
were believed to have been seized.

The US State Department confirmed that American citizens
were being held and the White House said it was "closely monitoring"
the situation.

France launched a major offensive against the jihadists in
Mali on 11 January to prevent them from advancing on the capital Bamako.

Algeria announced on Tuesday it had closed its border with
Mali but the 2 000km desert frontier is almost impossible to seal.

On Sunday Paris said Algiers had authorised overflights by
France-based Rafale fighter jets for the operation there.

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